


Remixed

by Haywire



Category: Pitch Perfect (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-24
Updated: 2012-12-24
Packaged: 2017-11-22 05:37:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/606382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haywire/pseuds/Haywire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a new a capella group emerges on the BU campus, both the Bellas and the Treblemakers find themselves in a difficult position. Will they be able to deal with this upstart rival in the world of a capella, and how will they do it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Remixed

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mk_tortie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mk_tortie/gifts).



> A 'what if?' scenario that takes place after the end of the movie, so spoilers abound for those who haven't seen it completely. A lot of the specific music got handwoven / left out due to time constraints, sadly, but hopefully it's still enjoyable. Written for mk_tortie for Yuletide, hope you like it! :)

“All right nerds, let’s go with...” Beca looked around at the rest of the Bellas seated around her, who all nodded in agreement. “Titanium, David Guetta. Go.”

“You heard the champs!” Tommy shouted. He turned to Justin and pointed to the backstage. “Justin, bring out the first vocalist!”

“Yes sir!” Justin headed off to do just that while Tommy found his way down to the front and took a seat.

“Think that’ll be a decent enough audition song?” Fat Amy asked Beca. “It’s an awesome song, yeah, but will enough people know it?”

“The people we want for the Bellas will, yeah. And it’s a perfectly fine audition song - remind me to tell you about that sometime, actually.” Beca grinned, then turned her attention back to the stage and the first person standing before them.

The a capella hopefuls ran the gamut from terrific to tone deaf, and as each one took the stage they were invited to meet with whichever teams were interested in recruiting them, if any. The usual teams were there: the Bellas, the Treblemakers, the High Notes (though they were either napping or munching away on snacks ninety nine percent of the time), the BU Harmonics. There was also another group of people present that Beca didn’t recognize, however. They were sitting in the far rear portion of the auditorium, well behind the other groups. The group consisted of a trio of girls in matching sweaters - one redheaded, one blonde, and one brunette - with the one in the middle making meticulous notes during each performance.

“Hey guys, who’s that?” Beca bit the end of her pencil, nodding towards the three newcomers in as nonchalantly a manner as she could.

“Hmm? Oh, they’re from that new sorority on campus, Omega Lamb Epinephrine or something like that.” Stacie answered. “Cute jackets, really, but I hear they’re all stuck up.”

“Omega Lambda Epsilon, Stacie.” corrected Cynthia Rose. “It’s Greek.”

“Well excuse me for not being from Greece.” replied Stacie, rolling her eyes. “Whatever.”

“But why are they here?” pressed Beca.

“Word on the street is they’re putting together an a capella team this year.” said Fat Amy. “Heard they’ve brought in a bunch of ringers too, bunch of cheaters. Not that we need to worry, with me still in the group and all.”

“Of course not.” Beca smirked. She glanced back at the three girls once more though, biting her lip a little. “Still, maybe I’ll have a word with Jesse about it just the same.” She turned her gaze to the Treblemakers, more specifically at her boyfriend who sat at the center of them. He raised his hand and gave her a little wave, which she responded to by looking around and feigning surprise at his attention. When he blew her a kiss she just snatched it from the air and pocketed it for later, winking at him rather than returning the gesture.

*****

“All right, that concludes our try outs. Thank you to all who came out and good luck to everyone!” Tommy and Justin clapped lightly for a few seconds, joined in briefly by some of the audience members, before the crowds started to disperse.

Jesse wandered over towards Beca as both of their groups started filing out, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his hoodie.

“Hey there stranger.” He pointed at Beca with finger pistols inside of his pockets.

“Did you give me finger pistols or are you just happy to see me?” she said with a chuckle.

“Who said it can’t it be both?” Jesse grinned and leaned in, kissing Beca quickly. “So, what’d you think?”

“Mreh.” The brunette raised her hand, waving it back and forth slightly. “There are a few people we’ll be in touch with but honestly, our core group’s still pretty strong, you know?”

“Oh, I know indeed. You’re talking to this year’s inevitable champions after all, of course.”

Beca snorted at that. “Please. No, wait, for Aubrey’s sake: aca-scuse me?”

They both had a good laugh at that before the sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted them. Turning around, they saw the three sorority girls Beca had spied earlier standing in the row behind them.

“Hi there. We couldn’t help but overhear your conversation.” started the blonde headed girl. “I’m Amber Allen and we’re from Omega Lambda Epsilon-”

“OLE!” yelled Beca and Jesse in near unison, causing them to exchange glances and giggle further before collecting themselves.

“I’m sorry, we didn’t mean anything by it. I’m Beca and this is Jes-”

“Oh, we know who you are.” said Amber. “And if you’re referring to either of your claims that your group will win this year’s competition, then yes, you really didn’t mean anything by it.”

This time Beca and Jesse exchanged confused looks before returning their gaze to the trio.

“Um, what?” said Beca.

“You heard me. The Little Lambs - our a capella group, for those of you slow on the uptake - are going to run away with the championship this year. We just thought we’d save you the trouble of trying so hard all year to succeed the impossible in advance, ok? Thanks, byyyyyyyye.” With a smirk the blonde turned on her heel, the other two sisters following suit in unison before they marched off as a unit.

“Dude, what just happened?” Beca asked, scratching her head.

*****

The riff-off was the next time Beca and the Bellas came face to face with the Lambs. All of the campus's a capella groups were there, with the Lambs making their first appearance at the event. The prize this time around was a feathered boa Lady Gaga threw into the audience at a recent performance in a nearby arena, which Justin had draped around his neck until a winner was determined.

Both the BU Harmonics and the High Notes were cut off early in the proceedings, leaving the Bellas, the Treblemakers, and the Lambs remaining. 

“The next topic is...” Justin held the projector up, letting the wheel spin for several moments before stopping it. “...songs ruined by Glee!”

The Treblemakers were the first to start in, with Jesse leaping out into the middle of the pool and starting the vocals.

“Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world,” The rest of the Trebles started filling in the music. “She took the midnight train going anywhere...”

“Where we want to, a place where they will never find,” jumped in Stacie. Beca started harmonizing with her as they continued. “And we can act like we come from out of his world, leave the real one far behind, and we can dance!” The other Bellas filled in with hand claps and singing while they danced. “We can dance, we can dance-”

“Dancing with myself, oh oh uh-oh,” Amber interrupted, with the other Lambs joining in almost instantaneously. “Well there’s nothing to lose and there’s nothing to prove, I’ll be dancing with myself!”

They moved in so quickly, even executed some fairly impressive choreography, that both the Bellas and the Trebles were taken aback and didn’t get a chance to jump back into the middle, much to everyone’s surprise.

“Wow, ok. Bellas, Trebles, you are...” Only Justin and the members of the Lambs clapped twice and made the motion before chanting: “Cut! Off!”

“The Lambs are the winners. How about that, folks?” Justin shrugged and handed over the feathered boa to Amber, who held it aloft as if it was the Holy Grail.

“Guys, I think we’re in trouble.” Beca said, wiping her brow and looking at the other members of the Bellas. She glanced over at Jesse, who looked like he was saying something very similar to the likewise exasperated members of the Treblemakers.

*****

Unlike the Bellas and Treblemakers of old, the two groups, now led by Beca and Jesse respectively, put their heads together and tried to come up with a plan of attack. Lilly undertook some research, with the assistance of Benji, and they got both groups together to report what they’d discovered.

“Get this you guys,” started Benji once everyone had assembled. “Amber Allen, the leader of the Little Lambs,” he continued, clicking a button on his laptop which was hooked up to a digital projector and displaying Allen’s picture at the moment. ”is the daughter of a big time record producer.” He clicked again and the logo of a record label replaced her picture.

“What she’s been doing is convincing the younger female singers from her father’s business to enrol at Barden and join her sorority.” Lilly added. She handed out some pictures to everyone, one a group shot of the Omega Lambda Epsilon a capella group and another a composite photo of various headshots and audition photos of the same girls, their names circled and matched up with the former photograph. “In other words, they’re ringers!” Louder than she had been most of the previous year, Lilly’s voice, still fairly quiet, was as loud as any of the Bellas had heard it before at the accusation.

“Ringers? Seriously?” said Fat Amy. “How is that even allowed? There’s got to be some kind of rule they’re breaking!”

“Yeah, they can’t just do that. Can they?” Jesse frowned, looking to Benji.

“Normally, no, they couldn’t. If the Treblemakers tried to do something that it wouldn’t fly, because the person we hired could be deemed not a student if there was proof that they’d only enrolled for the purpose of singing and competing.” Benji clicked and brought up another slide, this one jam packed with text. “The Barden University by-laws clearly prohibit a school sponsored team from using such individuals in competition, as do the ICCA rules. However, the exception to all of this is the fact that Omega Lambda Epsilon...”

“...is not a school sponsored team.” Beca clued in. “They’re a sorority and they don’t rely on school funding for anything.”

Benji nodded. “It’s sort of like the sorority is a corporation, a legal person, if you will, enrolled in the university. So those members of the sorority are deemed to fall under the same umbrella, at least under the current rules as they stand.” He sighed. “Which is completely unfair, but there you have it.”

“What? That’s a load of BS!” Unicycle exclaimed.

“That’s totally unfair! The rules have to be changed!” said Stacie, which everyone agreed to out loud in their own words.

“And they will, you can count on it,” said Benji, raising his hands in an attempt to quiet people down. “But since the season’s already under way and no formal complaint has been made as of yet, well.” He looked to Lilly.

“They’ll officially amend the rules over the summer and give everyone formal notice in advance of next year, but they won’t be able to do anything about this year’s competition.” Lilly sighed, shaking her head.

“How did you guys find all of this out anyway?” asked Cynthia Rose.

“A little birdie named Aubrey Posen is overachieving in her first year of law school and got some research done for us.” said Beca with a little smile. “I was talking to Chloe, who mentioned it to her, and you know how Aubrey can be.”

“I miss those twig bitches.” remarked Fat Amy.

“So, now that you’re all caught up,” said Benji. “Anyone have any ideas as to what we can do?”

“Work hard and give it our all, that’s all I can figure.” Jesse answered. “Until they change the rules there’s nothing we can do, fair or unfair as it is, other than giving them hell.” His fellow Treblemakers chipped in their own comments in agreement.

“Same goes for us. Hands in, aca-bitches.” Beca sounded Aubrey’s old rally cry and the girls all put their hands in, singing in unison as they threw them up in the air.

*****

Their confidence didn’t last long. At the regional semi-finals, held at Barden itself that year, the Lambs once again dominated the field. No other team came close to their performance, thanks to the professionals on their squad, and it showed.

Beca and the others waited on the sidelines for the judges to announce the winners, even if the overall winner was never really in doubt. She glowered at Amber and the other members of Omega Lambda Epsilon as they gloated and generally acted like a bunch of snobs near the front of the stage.

“Look at them, practically jumping on the stage in anticipation of winning.” Stacie said, her arms folded as she leaned on the wall near Beca.

Lilly said something under her breath which only the closest standing of the Bellas could hear, and they nodded in agreement, clenching their fists.

The announcers then called out the top three teams, the third being the Treblemakers, the second the Bellas, and the first place team to no one’s surprise being the Lambs. The victors were very poor sports in accepting their award, with Amber actually thanking the Bellas and the Treblemakers for making it so easy for them to win in her short acceptance speech.

“Aca-rude.” said Fat Amy. “In fact, I think I’m going to give them a piece of my mind, and my fist, and my foot, and my-”

“Amy, no, it’s not worth it!” Cynthia Rose put a hand on the other girl’s shoulder, holding her back. “That’s probably what they want anyway, to make a scene. Don’t give them the satisfaction.”

“Why not? We can’t beat them any other way it seems.” Fat Amy replied in frustration, hitting a chair in front of her. “With all those professionals it’d take two of us to even come close-”

“Wait.” said Beca, snapping her fingers. “That’s it!”

“What’s it?” said Stacie, frowning at Beca along with the rest of the squad.

“I’ll explain on the way, come on!” She whipped out her cell phone and frantically began texting Jesse, sending him a message as they marched across the campus to meet up.

*****

The plan that they hatched required total secrecy, so between the regionals and the finals Beca and company made themselves extremely scarce. Apart from attending classes they spent virtually every waking hour together in rehearsal for the finals. Beca even gave notice at the local radio station and had someone else cover her hours there until she had enough time to work again.

On the day of the finals the Bellas finally emerged from hiding, and even then only just before the commencement of the competition. Beca and the rest of the girls entered the Lincoln center and took their seats, focusing on the challenge ahead. All of the other teams had already entered ahead of them, and as they filed into their assigned area Beca saw Amber a few rows ahead of them. Amber likewise saw the Bellas as they entered and got out of her seat, walking towards the brunette with a smug look on her face.

“So, you decided to show up after all, huh? There was a rumour you weren’t going to show at all after what happened at regionals.” Amber crossed her arms and looked down the line of Bellas before returning her gaze to Beca. “It’s a shame, really, that you had to travel all this way for nothing.”

“It’s funny you say that, Amber, because I was just about to say the same to you.” Beca returned the blonde’s smirk with interest. “Since you’ll be the ones settling for second best tonight after we finish mopping the floor with you.”

“Oh yeah?” sneered Amber. “You and what army?”

“Well, it’s not so much an army, really, it’s more of an ensemble thing.” Beca rubbed her chin thoughtfully, searching for a better word before shrugging and turning around. As she looked to the back of the room the door opened and in walked Jesse, Benji, and a cadre of the other Treblemakers.

“Oh honey.” tsked Amber. “If you think moral support is going to help you that much, you’re sadly mistaken.”

“Not moral support,” said Jesse, taking off his coat at the same time as the other Treblemakers to reveal a similar costume to what the Bellas were sporting. “Choral support.”

“What? But the Treblemakers didn’t make it to-” began the blonde.

“Here.” Beca whipped out a copy of some paperwork, handing it over to Amber. “Just for your information, it’s a copy of the minutes from when we officially petitioned the university to merge our two groups in anticipation of finals - successfully so, in case it wasn’t obvious.”

“You guys are Bellas now?”

“Nope, the name was amended too. Near the bottom, check it out. It was Beca’s idea.” Jesse grinned and gave his girlfriend a pat on the shoulder.

Before she could read it out the PA system boomed into life. “Ladies and gentlemen, if you could please find your way to your seats, we’re about to get underway! In a few minutes we will begin our evening extravaganza with our first act! The Lincoln Center is pleased to announce that the first group in our competition this evening will be The Barden Bellas and Fellas!”

“Oops, that’s us! You can keep that, we’ll even sign it for you later if you’d like.” said Beca with a wink before they all headed backstage for their last minute preparations.

Amber just watched them in stunned silence as they filed past her.

*****

The joint set, which was nicely rounded out by having several male singers, was the highlight of the night. Featuring several songs in Beca’s signature mash up format - different versions of With A Little Help From My Friends, Rihanna’s We Found Love, Fun’s We Are Young, and a little of Marvin Gaye’s It Takes Two blended together - the set rang true with the audience, seeing the former rivals working side by side for a change, and it brought the house down.

When it was time for the Lambs to take the stage they put on a show worthy of their nickname. The collaboration between the Bellas and the Treblemakers had shaken them to their core, and while they still put on a good show there was nowhere near as much authenticity and heart in the performance. Their technique and their execution was as professional as always, there just wasn’t the same soul, as one reviewer later put it in the Barden University campus newspaper.

Later that evening during their celebration, Beca and Jesse found themselves alone from the rest of the ensemble.

“So, is there anything you can’t remix, Beca?” said Jesse with a grin, putting his arms around his girlfriend.

“If there is I haven’t found it yet.” she replied. “I’m just glad that it worked. I had my doubts there for awhile, to be honest.”

“What if it hadn’t worked?”

“I would’ve claimed it was all your idea, leaving for L.A. shortly afterward probably, maybe changing my name. Something like that.” Beca said with a shrug. “Does witness protection take you in if you haven’t actually witnessed anything?”

“Luckily we never need to know.” Jesse chuckled. “Putting those Lambs in their place like that felt so good that it ought to be a crime though, I know that much.”

“Hah, yeah, like that movie, what was it?” Beca thought for a minute before it came to her. “The Silence of the Lambs?”

They both shared a chuckle and a quick kiss before rejoining their teammates. Next year would see the Bellas and the Treblemakers competing against each other once more, as their collaboration was purely a one-shot deal to teach the Omega Lambda Epsilons a lesson in humility, but for now they were just going to enjoy the moment while it lasted.


End file.
